By Emma Black
Momoh Swaray is a Sierra Leonean who grew up in a mining family in the Kailahun District. Sixteen years ago, following the civil war, he and many other Sierra Leoneans moved to Liberia to try to build a better life for themselves. Swaray got married to a Liberian woman and they had six children. He returned to gold mining in hopes of striking it rich. Amongst the Sierra Leonean community, Swaray became the unofficial “governor” in the Harry Town, in the Lower Lofa County of Liberia, around six hours from Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. He mines gold but under the auspices of a Liberian landowner.
There are no official statistics as to the number of Sierra Leonean miners working in Liberia because most of them are working illegally. They lack immigration papers. They lack government support. They hide from the police and mining authorities. And, they work in the mines with no official recognition. They are literally working underground.
Estimates put the number of Sierra Leonean miners working in Liberia at between 2,000 and 4,000. But, there’s no way to tell for sure. In Harry Town, where Swaray lives and works, he said there were over 300 Sierra Leonean miners. He described, “There are four or five towns around where Sierra Leoneans are mining but unfortunately most of those people are illegal. And, they live a tough life.”
According to Daniel Gbondo, a policy advisor at the Sierra Leone Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources, “I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them (Sierra Leonean miners) went across the border without going through the normal immigration procedures because of the porous borders. And, mineral deposits do not know borders.” He added, “As a Sierra Leone citizen, you can go to Liberia as a Mano River Union citizen under ECOWAS protocols, but you need your work permit; you need a labour certificate and residency documents, if you want to work there. Normally, you would not be able to work in Liberia without those things. Having said that, given the strong social, economic and cultural ties between Liberia and Sierra Leone, I would not be surprised to learn there are Sierra Leoneans working in Liberia, especially in the artisanal mining sector.”
Ibrahim Massaquoi is a part-time miner originally from Kenema. He was swayed by a friend to move to Harry Town in Liberia. He said, “I have been mining here for six years but I do not have any documents. I move back and forth depending on if I have something to give to my mother back in my home country.” He noted, “At times, I have to hide and stay at the mining site when the immigration officers or Liberian authorities visit the area. Sometimes I wait a few days or a week before the tension fades before I can come and mine again.”
Gbondo noted, “Artisanal mining in Sierra Leone is held exclusively for Sierra Leone citizens. If a Liberian came to Sierra Leone, they would not be able to acquire a mining licence, but they could be hired to do mining on a concession owned by a Sierra Leonean. Artisanal mining is exclusively for national citizens… reserved for citizens of the country.” The same policy applies in Liberia, where Sierra Leonean miners are hired, sometimes without needing to show immigration papers or residency documents, to work in the mines.
Without the necessary immigration documents, many Sierra Leonean miners live in fear of being found out. They are afraid to report abuses or problems because they have no legal right to be working in Liberia.
Ibrahim A. Barry, the spokesperson for the Liberian Immigration Office, said Sierra Leoneans are mining illegally if they do not have proper documents. “We are aware of this pressing issue of illicit mining by aliens or foreigners.” For the Sierra Leonean miners, he suggested they regularize their status with the Sierra Leone Embassy in Monrovia to make sure they are not illegally living in Liberia without relevant documents.
Barry added, “The illegal mining issue is a pressing matter. And, even the Liberians will be charged for harbouring illegal immigrants and those who are illegal will also be charged.”
“We don’t know about Sierra Leoneans that are living in Liberia. We expect our travelers to go from this country with legal traveling documents,” said James Cooper, Head of Borders for the Sierra Leone Immigration Department. But, Cooper noted, Sierra Leone has over 800 border crossing points and he said it is almost impossible to monitor all those points. “If Sierra Leoneans are living there, we don’t know about them. We don’t know their numbers and we have not been contacted by the Liberian Government. If they don’t have legal documents, then the laws of Liberia will take care of them.”
Foday Fobert is from the Pujehun District and has been living and working in Liberian mines for 9 years. He said he initially went to Liberia with a friend, “to seek greener pastures”, he said. He got immersed in the mining community and soon felt trapped. He does not have legal papers to stay in Liberia but continues to work in the mines to support a young child and wife. “I was arrested once while I was trying to get back to Sierra Leone. I was reported to the authorities and now I am here without shelter, small or no pay, sometimes without food. I work by day and have nothing to show for my work.”
Speaking in the Sierra Leone lingua franca, Krio, Ibrahim Samura, moved to Liberia to work on a construction project with UNHCR in 2001, just before the civil war ended. “I started work with Access Mineral Resources then started my own private mining in Belemaya.” Since 2015, Samura has been mining for gold, without papers, documents or support. He said, “As a Sierra Leonean working here, we don’t want to know about anyone. I don’t want anybody around and I’ll keep to myself. We miners are plenty. We face many problems but there’s no where to launch a complaint.” Like many of the miners, Samura wants to work in peace, in a foreign land… underground and illegal. For Samura, making a small living, being able to support his family and live in peace is his main concern.
He said, “Some local people think of us as alien. But, we are black and I am black. Our brothers move around. We are still going to mine.”
Gbondo, from Sierra Leone Mines Ministry noted, “Sierra Leoneans in Liberia are afraid to face the embassy people because they are afraid of being arrested. It’s a misperception.” If there are issues in the community or at the mines, Sierra Leoneans are reluctant to report to authorities. They live in fear of being caught. Gbondo said, “They can go to the police station to report stolen diamonds or other issues. The police are not immigration officers. If the immigration wants they can pursue them but not necessarily. But, if you violate laws, the police may turn you over to immigration authorities.”
Emmanuel Teetee Swaray, Assistant Minister of Mines at the Ministry of Mines and Energy in Liberia, spoke about their efforts to curtail illicit mining. He said, “Illicit mining is not a new thing. But, we are working with several agencies including immigration, internal affairs and the Justice Ministry, to regulate the industry. Part of our efforts is to build a database of identification cards for miners, licence holders, labourers, traders and so on.” He added, “The focus of our task force is to reduce illicit activities and bring people into compliance.”
Gbondo, in Sierra Leone, said there are ways to develop the industry through foreign investment and foreign input, including at the artisanal mining level. “There are a number of ways non-citizens can operate in Sierra Leone. You could take out an exporter’s licence, you could establish a company. You could have a small-scale licence but it must be with a Sierra Leonean citizen. For large scale operators it could be 100% foreign owned or with a mixture of Sierra Leoneans and foreigners. That’s how we get foreign investment.”
In Liberia, according to Swaray, Class “C” artisanal mining licences are reserved for Liberians, similar to the policy in Sierra Leone. But, Swaray noted, as did Gbondo, there are ways for foreigners to invest in and work in the mines. Swaray said, “Liberians can get a Class “C” licence and then use foreigners (with legal immigration documents) to operate mines. In our records, the Liberian has the licence but in the field, the person working in the mine is a non-Liberian. Our mining law doesn’t go further to regulate the workers.”
Momoh Swaray, the “governor” in Harry Town, noted, “The Sierra Leonean miners might be illegal but because they know how to mine and work hard, those miners are in demand. Liberian landowners and brokers know the Sierra Leonean miners are good, cheap and can be taken advantage of. It’s easy to be a miner here but it’s not without risks.”
This story was a collaboration with the Media and Information Bureau in Sierra Leone and New Narratives as part of the Excellence in Extractives Reporting Project. German Development Cooperation provided funding. The Funder had no say in the story’s content.
Copyright © 2020 Politico Online
